Dark Page (episode)
Lwaxana Troi visits the Enterprise, but she's preoccupied by a dark secret she has carried for years. Summary Lwaxana Troi returns to the Enterprise, this time as the teacher of an alien race learning to speak, the Cairn. Their native form of communication is telepathy, but they want to learn spoken language in order to interact with other races. Lwaxana comes aboard with Maques, and his daughter, Hedril. Hedril is a young child and is Lwaxana's star pupil. The crew begins to notice that Lwaxana doesn't seem to be her normal flamboyant self. She's quiet and almost reserved. Deanna tries to figure out what's going on, and even has her mother examined in sick bay. Dr. Crusher determines that the chemical used for telepathy is sapped--Lwaxana must refrain from telepathy until it can regenerate. Deanna volunteers to help Maques and Hedril, but it is clear that Lwaxana is better for the task. She still uses her telepathy occasionally, and soon falls into a coma. Dr. Crusher cannot figure out what is causing it, as the telepathy-chemical depletion would not cause a coma. Deanna, with Maques' help, decides to go into her mother's brain telepathically in an attempt to help her. Once inside her mother's thoughts, she has to fight Lwaxana's desire to keep her secret. Deanna fights through several obstacles, including a delay tactic in the form of her own deceased father. Finally she finds her mother and learns that she once had a sister named Kestra, her mother's "precious one". Kestra had died in an accident and Lwaxana blamed herself. After confessing to Deanna, Lwaxana awoke from her coma. Mother and daughter have a heartfelt talk about Kestra. Memorable Quotes "I don't know what they'd have done without me. First, I had to learn how they communicate - it was an absolutely exhausting process-''" "''I'm sure it was" "Quite different from Betazed telepathy. We transmit words, but the Cairn...it's...er...images...er...floods of them, all at the same time - it's overwhelming!" "I can imagine" "Actually, it's a very efficient way of communication. If two Cairn were having this conversation, it would have been over minutes ago!" "Really?!" "Of course, they realise that they'll want to communicate verbally if they join the Federation. Oh! do me a favor! Introduce yourself to one of them. Engage them in conversation - they need the practice." "I'd be happy to!" : - Lwaxana Troi and Jean-Luc Picard "Aren't you going to mingle, Mr. Worf?" "I do not care for telepaths. They make me... uneasy." "Don't worry. The Cairn couldn't read your thoughts even if they wanted to. Your brain isn't sophisticated enough." : - Lwaxana Troi and Worf Background Information Story and Script * According to the Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, several different versions of the basic telepathic rescue story were tried before the final version. Possibilities included La Forge or Crusher as main characters, and Lwaxana rescuing Deanna. * René Echevarria, who gave an uncredited polish to the episode's script, regretted having been forced to tone down Maques' comical attempts at language. (ST: TNG Companion) * Lake El-Nar was named after a friend of writer Hilary J. Bader. (ST: TNG Companion) * Although Deanna says that Mr. Homn saved the picture of Kestra, Xelo was most likely Lwaxana's attendant at the time of Kestra's death ( ). Mr. Homn was Xelo's replacement, and Xelo apparently passed the picture on to Mr. Homn. * This episode is one of a few in which the Enterprise bridge is not seen, along with and . * Data makes reference to his dreaming program, which had just received heavy focus in the previous episode, . Cast and Characters * This episode features a very young Kirsten Dunst as Hedril. * This is Lwaxana's last appearance in TNG. Her next appearance is in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode . * This is the first and only appearance of Ian Troi, whose name was previously established in . * Mr. Homn was to appear in the episode, but Carel Struycken was unavailable. (ST: TNG Companion) * Norman Large had previously played the Romulan proconsul Neral in and II, as well as Kobheerian captain Viterian in . Production * Split-screen shots against a blue screen were used to allow characters to interact with the wolf (which although trained was still dangerous). Kirsten Dunst petted a stand rather than the wolf, with the animal matted in later. The wolf's growl was achieved by giving it a lick of a meaty bone, then filming its reaction when a trainer moved as if to take it. (ST: TNG Companion) * Marina Sirtis performed her own stunt when apparently jumping into space: she lept off of a blue-screened platform onto air mattresses. This was then matted in with the star field and corridor walls. (ST: TNG Companion) Other Information * The back story on Ian and Lwaxana Troi revealed in this episode was further expanded upon as a subplot in the novel The Art of the Impossible. Video and DVD releases *UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 80, . *As part of the TNG Season 7 DVD collection. Links and References Main Cast *Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard *Jonathan Frakes as Commander William T. Riker *LeVar Burton as Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge *Michael Dorn as Lieutenant Worf *Gates McFadden as Doctor Beverly Crusher *Marina Sirtis as Counselor Deanna Troi *Brent Spiner as Lieutenant Commander Data Guest Stars *Majel Barrett as Lwaxana Troi *Norman Large as Maques *Kirsten Dunst as Hedril *Amick Byram as Lieutenant Ian Andrew Troi Co-Star *Andreana Weiner as Kestra Troi Uncredited Co-Stars *Michael Braveheart as Ensign Martinez *Tracee Lee Cocco as Lieutenant j.g. Jae *Fumiko Hamada as a command division officer *Deborah Landis as a Cairn *Michael Moorhead as a science division ensign *Richard Sarstedt as a command division lieutenant j.g. *Unknown performers as **Deanna Troi (infant) **Crewman Burton **Command division lieutenant **Science division officer **Male Cairn References arboretum; Betazed; Cairn; Federation Council; Heaven; Mr. Homn; Human; Klingon; Lake El-Nar; metaconscious; John Milton; paracortex; poetry; psilosynine; sub-neural scan; telepathy; VISOR; vocal enhancer; Betazoid; Ten Forward; Folnar jewel plant; Dog; Gemstone; Rose; Folnar III |next= }} Category:TNG episodes de:Ort der Finsternis es:Dark Page nl:Dark Page